The current performance and applicability of elective hepatic resection represents an impressive evolution. From removal of tumor-bearing, ill-defined portions of the liver, which is always threatened by the inability to control bleeding, surgery of the liver has progressed to hemostatically controlled dissection of anatomically defined portions of the organ. Accompanying the series of technical refinements that have markedly reduced the mortality and morbidity rates associated with the procedure, there has been an expansion of the indications for hepatic resection.